Pointless, All That's Left
by spoiled princez
Summary: Birthday celebrations aren't really his thing. She'd always celebrated even the littlest things. Birthday fic. Oneshot.


**EDIT: Okay so I was wrong, it's just Shintaro's bday today, Apr 30. Wow, I actually did something so early then xD First time~! Haha oh well, ****so, um, enjoy~**

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"Shintaro-kun!" Ayano's voice had floated down the hall.

He had known better than to stop. He already had more than just a clue of what she's up to. After all, this situation had been quite a tradition for the past years they've known each other. But that year he'd decided he wouldn't be dragged into anything again.

"Shintaro-kun!" Ayano had called again, her voice closer. "Wait up!"

But of course, he could never really fully avoid her, so he'd at least spared her a sideways glance.

Ayano had brightened up at the recognition, and so hurriedly took the last few steps to walk side-by-side with him. "So," she'd grinned sweetly, "any after-school plans?"

"Sleep, I guess," he'd answered indifferently, turning his gaze back down the hall. "Oh, and there's this new game I bought, so I'll probably play that tonight."

She had giggled. "No! I mean, plans… to, you know… celebrate!"

Shintaro had sighed deeply. Here we go again, he'd thought, as he added, "It's just a day where I get a year older. There's nothing to celebrate about that." It had been his argument every single year, not just against her but against his own family as well, but it never really seemed to get through to them.

Ayano had only shaken her head. "There are lots of reasons to celebrate!" Of course, she had her own rehearsed reply as well. "Like surviving another year!" She'd walked ahead of him as she ticked off the reasons on her fingers. "Being able to go to school, acing tests, eating complete meals everyday, and having family and friends." She had paused to look back at him. "Celebrate life, Shintaro-kun!"

_You've probably said that a lot of times already, but all I ever did was shrug it off. Even at the last time I'll ever hear you say that. _

Shintaro had only walked past her. "I'd rather go ho—"

"No," Ayano had held him back by his sleeve.

"No?" he had repeated. He'd looked back at her, and swore he saw something in her eyes. Urgency? Desperation?

_I should've known…_

Whatever it was, it had vanished right away when Ayano suddenly beamed. "We've kind of expected Shintaro-kun to just waste this wonderful day on games and such, so we went ahead and made plans in advance!"

He'd sighed in relief. It must've just been his imagination, he had thought.

Shintaro had then focused once more on her reply. Again, he'd expected her to plan something, to which he'd resolved to refuse… but wait, what did she say again?

"What do you mean… w_e_?"

He'd felt himself break into cold sweat all of a sudden. If it was just her, Shintaro could easily turn her down… or maybe agree to tag along for a short while just so she'd stop pestering him.

But if she'd gotten those two involved…

"Shintaro-kun!" As if on cue, someone had called out from the far end of the hall ahead of them.

…it would be impossible to bail out of this one. Because that meant Ayano had put in more effort in planning that time around. Right then, it had gotten more difficult to go against his conscience, which had usually been screaming at him to go along with Ayano's ideas ever since long ago actually.

Slowly, he had turned to see Haruka waving at them, and his inseparable female companion glaring daggers at him.

Shintaro had let out a long sigh again. Quite forcefully, he'd then gotten out of Ayano's grasp and trudged towards their seniors.

"Hey," Takane had tapped her foot impatiently. "How much longer are you going to make us wait? We don't have all day."

"Technically," Shintaro had snapped once he and Ayano got close enough to them, "it is well past half of the day already. We literally don't have all day. And just so you know, I did not ask for this anyway."

"C-come on, Shintaro," Haruka had chimed in, as he might've sensed another fight brewing. "It'd be the first time Takane and I would celebrate your birthday, so-"

"Are you sure _both _of you wanted to in the first place?" he had asked.

"Don't be such a jerk!" Takane had said. "And for your information too, I only got dragged into this like you are!"

"Now, now," Ayano had somehow gotten in between them all of a sudden, "can't you two give fighting a rest sometimes?" She'd turned to Takane, "Let it pass, Takane-senpai, just for today. Please?"

"Are you serious?" Takane's frown had only deepened, but there really must have been something about Ayano that day that made her hard to resist. "Hmph," she had finally backed down. "Fine, if you say so. But just for today."

"Good!"Ayano had then turned to Shintaro, and obviously smiled harder than she usually did. "Don't worry, Shintaro-kun. I assure you, this birthday would be so fun, you'd never forget it."

_Of course, because it was the last one I'd ever spend with you. With all of you._

Shintaro tossed in his bed. "Celebrate life, huh," he muttered into a pillow. "If I was the only one left alive, would it still be worth celebrating?"

His alarm clock suddenly went off, startling him. He reached for the snooze button for the nth time that morning, but now it won't stop anymore. Knowing what would most likely happen next, Shintaro hid his head under a pillow to desperately try to cover his ears, just in time for his computer to turn on and play a marching band song.

"Master! Master, get up now!" Ene shouted through the noise in a sing-song tone.

"Stop it."

The music only got louder, filling his room with the sound of cymbals, trumpets, and drums. Much worse, someone started banging on his door.

"Oniichan!" Momo called from outside. "I know you're awake now! Come on, we're going to be late!"

"Go away. Leave me alone. Please."

"It's almost noon!" his sister added.

He was very well aware of that, but he just doesn't want to get up today of all days. Well okay, he'd never wanted to anymore—except of course if he was busy with anything on his computer—but most especially today.

"Oniichan!"

"Master!"

"Oniichan!"

"Master!"

Shintaro then screamed in frustration, continuing on even as the marching band music stopped. He even threw a few pillows to the door. "Fine! I'm up! Now—"

"Shintaro!" he heard his mother bounding up the stairs. "Now just because it's your birthday doesn't mean you get the right to disturb the neighbors!"

"But… but they…"

"Open this door, young man!"

After receiving an earful, Shintaro begrudgingly got dressed on purpose, leaving a very impatient Momo waiting downstairs for him.

"About time!" Momo stood up from the couch. "Ugh, if only it wasn't your birthday."

'That's for getting me in trouble,' he wanted to say, but he wasn't in for another angry monologue. "Let's just get through with this."

"Hmph," Momo then arched her neck towards the kitchen to call out sweetly, "Mom! We're going now!"

"Hm? Where?" Their mother, who was just scolding her useless son a while ago, emerged fully-dressed for her office work.

"I told you yesterday, right? We'll be celebrating Oniichan's birthday with friends!" Momo was still smiling so innocently, and it took everything for Shintaro not to roll his eyes.

Their mother seemed to process this for a moment, before finally responding, "Oh, that." She sighed and looked at Shintaro, "We never get to celebrate that anymore, huh."

This startled the guy. "Uh, well—"

"Well, Oniichan's sociable again now, so maybe we can celebrate it like how we've used to?" Momo suggested. "Though we'd probably be home by tomorrow."

"Hey," Shintaro frowned at the jab. And also because he didn't know they'd be staying overnight with the others.

"That's actually a good idea," their mom smiled. "Alright, tomorrow we'd have cake. Oh, and maybe I can cook Shintaro's favorite—"

"You don't have to, you know," Shintaro interrupted.

"Come on, Oniichan," Momo smiled kindly at him, but actually secretly pinched his arm. "This only happens once a year. Give Mom a little favor."

"Ow," he backed away from his little sister and turned back to their mother's expectant face. "F-fine. I'd be… uh, looking forward to tomorrow."

Their mother smiled back. "Okay. Now you two have fun!"

With that, Momo dragged her brother out the door.

"I really should stop letting people control my birthday," Shintaro muttered as they walked in the non-crowded shortcut to the base, his sister leading the way. "I mean, it's _my_ day, right? I should be able to live through it _my_ way."

"And how, Master?" Ene asked mischievously from his phone. "Like locking yourself up in your room again, watching something indecent? But you do that every night already for the past two years!"

"You're really disgusting," Momo remarked.

"Wha- shut up, Ene!" Shintaro whisper-shouted, to which Ene only giggled at.

"But you know," Momo suddenly took on an alarmingly more serious tone, "you can't have your birthday your way if… well, your ways are worrying." She kept on walking without looking back at him. "It's really good that you've stopped shutting people out. But you still got depressed as your birthday approached, and I… we don't want you to go back to how you've been ever since..." her voice trailed off.

_W_e?

Images flashed through his mind... of his mother who rarely ever smiles at him now.

...of the Dan he barely spoke trivial matters with, much less open up about his past.

…Ene.

With the way things are, it would seem unlikely for them to worry about him, but they are after all his family and friends, the people in his life who, according to Ayano, makes life worth celebrating.

Maybe he wasn't truly left alone after all.

"Ah, forget it!" Momo walked faster. "Forget I said anything!"

He'd realized just then that the silence has gone on for far too long. Well, what's Shintaro to say? He's already an awkward enough person, so moments like these are just… overkill.

But he appreciated how Momo still understands him better than he thought. They did used to be close.

Catching up to his sister, he lightly hit the back of her head.

"Hey!"

Shintaro held up his hands. "That didn't hurt one bit!"

"Was that even necessary?"

"Yes, because you're being out of character. Now just tell me what the hell we'd be doing at the base that we'd have to stay overnight."

She turned away. "Well... it was supposed to be a surprise."

"Come on. I want to know what I'm getting myself into every once in a while, if you only knew," Shintaro groaned.

Momo laughed. "Nope! You've got to wait until we get there!"

He sighed. "Fine. Just please, no more amusement parks."

"Sure, Master! We don't want you puking your guts out on your birthday!" Ene teased.

"I thought I told you to stop talking."

"Don't be mean, Oniichan," Momo frowned at him. "To be honest, Ene's the one who came up with-"

"Uwah, little sister, stop!" Ene frantically interrupted.

"Oops," Momo cupped her mouth. "I'm sorry!"

Shintaro looked back and forth at them. "That doesn't help, you know."

"Well, maybe it won't hurt to give you a clue," Momo smiled. "It's something that would… hm, fit your interests."

The last time he celebrated his birthday with his friends, they only went snack bar-hopping. He'd expected an arcade face-off, considering he did meet his seniors through their gaming booth, but for some reason they didn't even seem to have thought of that option.

Until of course, when he walked Ayano home that night.

"_Don't worry, Shintaro-kun! Next time, we'd do something you'd really like! " _she had smiled brightly. _"Like, video games, for example! Haruka-senpai and I have been practicing a lot with those…"_

Now whether it's a coincidence or something that Ene turned out to have suggested a gaming night, Shintaro could only smile at the bittersweet memory.

_Her promise did come true a little late,_ he thought as he tried to beat his surprisingly competitive opponent, Konoha, in a shooting game._ Yet wasn't I supposed to be doing this with you guys? So it remains a half-fulfilled promise._

Alas, the game finished, Shintaro once again winning.

"Ah, I lost," Konoha blankly stated, still showing no signs of disappointment or whatsoever.

"Another round, Shintaro-kun!" Kano jumped up from the couch. "Avenge me, Kido!"

"Hey, what the...?" Kido sputtered as Kano pushed her to the middle of the room.

"You can do it, Kido!" Seto cheered.

"Go, Kido!" Marry added.

"Yeah, wipe my stupid brother out, Danchou-san!" Momo handed Kido the console.

"You're all so noisy," Hibiya muttered from his spot leaning against the wall.

"Hey now, don't you think it's unfair she gets all the support?" Shintaro complained.

"Nope, Master!" Ene replied from the TV screen. Apparently, she kind of controls the game, along with commentary. "Winners are never liked! They're always ought to be defeated!"

"Huh. Yeah, sure."

Kido sighed beside him. "Let's just get this over with."

Shintaro smiled as he got in position.

_But maybe these guys aren't too bad after all._

* * *

**Plot twist: That was Kano!Ayano. Nah, JUST KIDDING.**

**But seriously, I've started to feel for Shin Shin because of the new novel :'( I mean, losing his only friends all at once is just too much, don't you think? :( **

**Let's talk more about this HikkiNEET's tragedy... but first please tell me what you think of this through a review! Hihi~ did you see that coming? Haha, okay. ;) **

**Now I wanted to write something for National Siblings Day, but I'm running out of time, so uh, I guess the Kisaragi siblings moments here could be some kind of tribute? xD **


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